The Race To The Moon Was More Than That

December 28, 1999|By MIKE HOLTZCLAW Daily Press

It was never just some Flash Gordon fantasy. The Space Race was always about a much bigger issue.

When President Kennedy said in May 1961 that he wanted America to put a man on the moon "before this decade is out," it was a challenge to our nation's top scientists. Four years earlier, when the Soviet Union launched its first Sputnik satellite, it was taken as a sign that Soviet technological abilities were far ahead of our own - a terrifying thought during the Cold War, when "rocket science" was translated by the general public as "nuclear capabilities." Beating the Russians to the moon - meeting Kennedy's deadline - would be such a powerful symbol, it consumed the nation during the 1960s.

"When you think about everything we accomplished in such a compressed time, it really is pretty phenomenal," says Chuck Eldred of Yorktown, who began his career with NASA in 1960 and worked at Langley Research Center from 1970 until his recent retirement. "But President Kennedy's deadline was taken very seriously. The budget is always such a big problem, but during the 1960s, the budget was secondary - the schedule was considered to be the highest priority."

Eldred helped design the parachute system that would ensure astronauts' safe return to Earth. At one point during the Space Race, a Soviet parachute system failed, causing a fatal accident during testing.

"That certainly raised the concern for us," says Eldred, 60. "As important as the moon landing itself is, the final step is getting the people back. If they don't make it, then you've lost everything."

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, and Neil Armstrong made his famous "one giant leap for mankind" comment, the whole world was watching.

Even the NASA scientists were reduced to gaping spectators at the grandeur of the moment.

"Even people who had worked for years in the program were watching in awe when it actually happened," Eldred recalls. "We were as enthusiastic about watching it and anticipating it as the public was."

Mike Holtzclaw can be reached at 928-6479 or by e-mail at mholtzclaw@dailypress.com